Varietal: Blended Red Wine (33% Syrah; 33% Barbera; 33%Petite Sirah)
Region: California – USA
Cost: $19.50
Deep purple in the glass with aromas and flavors of blueberry, black cherry, cedar, and mulberry with a tannic zip on the finish. Â Pairs well with Italian, Tex/Mex, spare ribs, burgers, steaks, pizza, meatloaf.
Recommendations: It was interesting for me to look over the tasting notes from this California wine and not see Cabernet Sauvignon thrown into the mix. Â Now before I get a bunch of hate mail/comments, I know that California makes more than just Cabernet, just feels like every time I get a blended wine from there, some Cab manages to find its way in, so it was nice to see one without.
When I poured the wine into the glass I almost feel in love right there. Â The deep purple color of the wine assured me that this would not be a light wine that would be overpowered by my meal. Â Not that I was worried a quick dinner of pizza would overpower most any red, but I was sure that it would hold up to even the thickest, juiciest, most seasoned steak I could come up with. Â I was right.
It took a while for the aromas to come out for me as the smell of alcohol was fairly prevalent at first, but after allowing the wine to open up I did start to get some of the black cherry on the nose. Â I can’t speak to the mulberry on the palate (as I don’t know what a mulberry tastes like to be honest), but the same cherry that I was getting on the nose came through in the mouth.
My favorite part of this wine was the nice tannic finish. Â I’ve always been a fan of a red that sort of kicks you at the end, and this wine did just that for me. Â That’s not to say that the tannins were over the top, but they were there and present and there’s no missing them. Â The wine was good with my pizza dinner, but I could have easily paired this with a steak or some pasta and it would have been just as good if not better.
Fortunately, for being a more bold wine, even after the food was gone the wine was still quite enjoyable. Â Granted I enjoy fuller wines even just to sip on without food. Â All in all it’s definitely a wine I would give another go to, especially this time of year as I’m spending a lot of time either grilling steaks and burgers or making quick dinners of pizza or pasta.
Special thanks to the International Wine of the Month Club for supplying the sample for this review.
For those looking for the wine you can order it directly from Home Grown Farms.
